​

The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) have recently launched a socket calculator which allows householders to see if they are overloading their sockets.  Overloaded sockets cause many house fires in the UK each year and whilst most people use a 4 way bar adaptor which is recommended over a multi plug adaptor, many people are still unclear about what items are safe to plug in.

 

The maximum load for a plug socket is 13 Amps or 3000 Watts.  It is important to know which electrical items use the most power in order to avoid overloading of sockets.  A kettle for example uses 3000 Watts, this would therefore need its own socket.

 

Use the Electrical Safety Council's Socket Overload Calculator below to plug in some typical household appliances to see the effect on the load, and to get useful tips on how to avoid overloading your sockets.

​